


Ship in a Bottle

by The_Exile



Category: Phantasy Star III
Genre: Community: tic_tac_woe, Doomed Timelines, Easter Eggs, Gen, Teleportation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-30
Updated: 2018-04-30
Packaged: 2019-04-30 03:59:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14488326
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Exile/pseuds/The_Exile
Summary: They say there's something still down there in the Landen castle dungeon...





	Ship in a Bottle

**Author's Note:**

> for fill 'erased from reality'

"There's something wrong with the castle dungeon," Sari said, matter-of-fact as usual. Her eyes darted around as she gripped the handle of the combat knife she polished a little tighter than was necessary, hand twitching as if eager to wield the weapon.

Her mother sighed, "It's not the Crown Princess' job to oversee prison security, dearest, you should really learn to delegate..." 

"No, not an escapee, there's... something in there that shouldn't be. Something wrong," Sari told her firmly, "I remember hearing stories about secret tunnels down there, about an invasion during the last war..."

"Ah, I see," Lena shook her head, sighing again, "No, Sari, they're not invaders."

"Who aren't?"

"I did not expect my child, with an Orakian mother and father, who has never shown a spark of the Technique, to manifest a connection with the Spirits."

"Spirits. Our castle is haunted?"

"They're not exactly ghosts. They're... think of them as lost spirits, people trapped between worlds. Both here and not here," she shook her head, "During the last King's reign, you see, there was an... experiment. A magical experiment with the intention of improving the Escapipe."

"I didn't hear about that, and I hear a lot of rumours about that place. Are you telling me that Escapipes are dangerous?" Sari frowned, "Is this a cover-up by the Escapipe industry?"

 

"Only if you use it without anchoring it to and from a fixed point. Which should be impossible, but this Escapipe was tampered with in a way that overrode several safeguards that are normally watertight. They were trying to reverse engineer it to try and make the Technique usable without the equipment. There's a historical record that it used to be but something happened," she frowned, "But, whatever the case, it's very difficult to get information about the disaster, not because anyone covers it up, but because the information itself disappears. We think it vanishes into the same place that the entire crew, the facility itself, all records of the experiment, went to. A limbo between the point they disappeared and where they were supposed to reappear. It's as if... they just can't exist any more. The Universe itself forgot they were ever there."

Sari shuddered, "So how come you know they're there? How come I can sense them?"

"I only know because I have the palace scribes constantly writing it down," explained Lena, "But it's a losing battle, you know. We don't just forget about the experiment any more, we're losing information about that entire period of time, and... it's spreading, Sari. There isn't such thing as one single unit of time you can take out without interrupting everything else, like a book on a shelf, so..."

"Isn't that gonna cause trouble down the line?"

"That's an understatement if I've ever heard one. But it's hard to figure out what to do when I forget more of what I'm even trying to do with every passing day."

Sari frowned, "I wish I could help you, but you know how bad I am at this sort of thing. If it turns out to be an enemy I can stab, you know where I am. Orakio Above, who exactly thought giving me gifts like this was a good idea, when I have no idea what to do with them?"

"I don't think destiny is as kind or as straightforward as you're making it out to be," replied Lena, before adding in a whisper, "Especially when we've already gone against the most basic laws of the Universe so badly that we can't stop the threads of fate unraveling any more."


End file.
